Roxanne Darrow

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Roxanne, previously a CB Istanbul correspondent, is a food and agriculture researcher and writer based in Washington DC. She investigates the industrial food system’s dark underbelly with the Food Integrity Campaign and previously worked at Food & Water Watch, where she analyzed Wikileaks cables to expose the State Department's international GMO hustling strategy. In 2014, she lived in Istanbul and wrote about sustainable farmers, food activists and artisans—in between taking way too many photos of the city’s charismatic felines. She caught the agriculture bug at UC Berkeley’s Student Organic Garden in 2008 and worked on small farms in Chile and California—hence her nascent tractor skills and lusty appreciation for fresh-fried chicharrones. Her happy place is riding shotgun with a farmer in their truck/horse/cart, listening to their stories and taking notes.

Recent stories by Roxanne Darrow

Istanbul -- Zeynep Arca Şallıel had a successful career in advertising in Istanbul, but in 1995 she decided to take on a daunting new challenge: taking part in the revival of small-scale viniculture in the ancient winemaking region of Thrace. Read more

Istanbul --
Şehzade Erzurum Cağ Kebabı is one of our favorite places in Istanbul for a satisfying, lamby meal. You could easily walk past its handful of outdoor tables, tucked into a bustling pedestrian-only shopping street in the Sirkeci neighborhood. Read more

Istanbul --
Every year, for one month only, bakeries across Istanbul churn out round, flat, yeasty loaves of Ramazan pide bread. Before Muslims break their fast at sundown, they hurry to buy these addictively chewy pides, which are essential to the iftar meal here. Read more